Site Mobile Navigation

‘Full Court Press’

I walk past the United States District Court building in Brooklyn almost every day. One sunny morning a few months ago, the courthouse entrance was swarming with the news media. The light was handsome, and the scale of the event was intriguing, so I joined in, even though I had no idea what was going on.

As it turned out, it was the day Najibullah Zazi entered his plea of not guilty to terrorism conspiracy charges in connection with a plot to blow up New York City’s subway — a plea he reversed this past Monday. But on that autumn day, I was more interested in the commotion.

Related

There are cameras everywhere at media events, and by taking my camera out I blended in perfectly. I just aimed it mostly in the opposite direction from the others, shooting the shooters, as the other view was being pretty well-covered. It struck me as funny how so many cameras would all be getting essentially the same shots. From my perspective, the over-coverage of this event became the event.

At first it looks as if the interviewee — Mr. Zazi’s lawyer, J. Michael Dowling — is in control of the press; by speaking to reporters as he walks off, he forces them to scramble after him. Twice. In the end, he seems cornered, but then he slips away with the press locked in hot pursuit. It’s cat-and-mouse choreography, and the atmosphere of urgency and even chaos is self-generated. It reminded me of a tenet of experimental research, where the act of observing an event changes the event.

This film is a chronological condensation of a 20-minute event. Mr. Dowling’s attempts to make his way through a crowd that’s glued to him made me think of Charlie Chaplin, and that inspired the choice of music.

What's Next

Jeff Scher is a painter and experimental filmmaker. His work is in the permanent collection of numerous museums, among them the Museum of Modern Art, and has been screened at film festivals around the world, including opening night at the New York Film Festival. He has also created work for HBO, PBS, the Sundance Channel and, most recently, a music video for Bob Dylan. A selection of his films, “The Best of Times,” was just published as an iPhone and iPad app. Mr. Scher teaches at the School of Visual Arts and at N.Y.U. Tisch School of the Arts. Music for Mr. Scher’s videos in The New York Times are by Shay Lynch.